


Tongue Tied

by msjgatsby



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, First Dates, talk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-13
Updated: 2015-05-13
Packaged: 2018-03-30 10:11:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3932860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/msjgatsby/pseuds/msjgatsby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fitzsimmons finally have a talk (preseason 2 finale)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note: I've written a lot of fanfiction on other websites, but this is my first attempt on this one. Also be forewarned I'm not as familiar with the TV show Agents of Shield as I'd like to be. This was written before the Season 2 finale aired.

"What the hell?!" Fitz yells out as he slams the broken automatic pulser back down onto the counter, stands up abruptly and paces away from the useless piece of junk in frustration. This was the sort of thing that in the past he probably could have put together with one hand tied behind his back. Now, with his hands shaking and his head feeling constantly jumbled, he can't even get the damn thing to emit the laser without overheating.

"Everything ok over there, Turbo?" Mack asks patiently, from the other side of the garage where he'd been quietly working up until Fitz's outburst.

"It's no good! It's... broken!" Fitz says, bringing his hand up to rub the back of his neck in distress. He's so agitated he can't even find the words to explain the problem.

"Why don't you give yourself a break? You're always in here. Get a hobby."

"This is my hobby." Fitz insists waving his arms around at the lab.

"Maybe get a girl." Mack suggests carefully. It had been enough time. Fitz was a little odd, but he was likable enough. He was cute in that harmless sort of way that girls seemed to like. He could find some bookish little thing at the Hub who was attracted to the "danger" of the field yet liked the safety of Fitz's harmless stammering.

"Yeah, I tried that, thanks. Didn't work out too well for me." Fitz says sarcastically, circling the small gadget like it was a small wild animal he was trying to corner but was afraid would strike out at him if he got too close.

"Ah, come on man. It's been months. You're still hung up on her?"

"I know. I'm pathetic." Fitz says, misreading Mac's question as an insult.

"It's not that." Mack says firmly, as usual not allowing Fitz to pity himself. "Maybe you shouldn't give up. Maybe you should tell her how you feel again."

"I'd rather let Ward use my face as a punching bag." Fitz says as he leans over the trinket, again attempting to attach a wire and pulling back when he accidentally shocks himself.

"Well I just thought you might want to give it another try. It seems like you and Simmons are doing better." Mack says weakly, though his tone doesn't hold out much hope.

"Yeah and I'd like to keep it that way… wait. Who said anything about Simmons?" Fitz asks defensively.

"Don't play that game with me, Turbo. She's obviously the girl. The way you stare at her looks like she's the last girl in the world. And honestly, as an outside observer, you're not alone in the staring these days. Ask her out again. What have you got to lose?" Mac asks.

"It's too late now." Fitz brushes the suggestion off focusing intently on the gadget in his hand.

"What do you mean? It's never too late." Mack chides him.

"It is. I'm useless now." Fitz taps the side of his head to indicate his brain injury.

"You're not useless. You're still one of the smartest dudes I know. You've saved my ass multiple times."

"To Simmons, I am. I could barely keep up with her before the… the… damage." Fitz says in frustration. The conversation is getting him all worked up, he can't solve the damn trinket and now because he's frustrated his aphasia is even worse. "I'm no good to her like this. She'll want someone like Trip."

"Trip's dead." Mack reminds him calmly.

"Well I wish I was!" Fitz yells in a sudden outburst. "She should have just left me. There at the bottom of the ocean. I was ready."

"You don't mean that. Simmons saved you. She cares about you. Would you want her to live with all that guilt if she let you die?" Mack asks reasonably.

"I wanted to be her hero." Fitz stutters, "Not her… her... charity case."

"No one thinks that." Mack tries to calm down the frustrated man, but Fitz just turns away, placing his hands on the table in frustration, "Fitz, you're still getting better."

"Yeah, well I'm never gonna be what I was? Am I?" Fitz slams his hands down on the table. "And even when I was… better… that wasn't good enough for her, so how could she want me as I am now?"

"Fitz…" Mack's voice has a warning tone in it, and Fitz turns in horror to see Jemma Simmons standing in the doorway.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fitzsimmons have a chat.

"Simmons… I… How long… standing?" Trying to calm down the nerves that made words even harder he focused very hard on forming the simple sentence "How long have you been standing there?"

"Mac, may I have a moment alone with Fitz, please." Jemma addresses Mac in a cool even tone.

Fitz looks over at him in a state of panic, begging him with his eyes not to go.

"No… The last time you said that you hit me with… with..." He's trying to make a joke, but he's stumbling over the words.

"...with a fire extinguisher. Yes I know." Simmons finishes Fitz's sentence for him when he can't find the words, and turns to Mac, "A moment?"

"Sure thing." Mac gets out of the way of the obviously annoyed scientist. As he passes Simmons, he looks over her shoulder to Fitz and mouths silently, "Good luck."

When the room is finally empty except for the two of them, Jemma keeps her arms crossed in frustration, biting her lip. She waits to make sure they're alone before saying in an even tone, "Fitz, we need to fix this."

"Yes, I agree the heat gradient is all off…" Fitz turns away, back to face his work desk. He's blushing bright red, hoping she'll just let it go and they can go back to work and not talk about this.

"Don't be daft! ...Just cover the positive wires with a polymer to protect the- No. Not the time. We need to fix us!" Simmons chastises him for the purposeful misunderstanding, though she is admittedly momentarily distracted by the gadget Fitz has held up for her inspection.

"I can't be fixed Simmons! I'm damaged. The doctors tried." Fitz wishes she would just accept that he's different. He's never going to be good enough for her.

"I'm not talking about that! Us! We need to fix us, Fitz." She pleads with him.

"You don't want an us." Fitz looks at her pointedly.

"Of course I do. You're my-"

"Best friend. Yeah, I know." This time it's Fitz's turn to cut her off. "I just… um… I can't really… I can't. Not when… Not with…"

She stares at him, visibly holding herself back from impatiently cutting him off as he stumbles over his words. Fitz takes a deep breath and squeezes his eyes shut and focuses on what he wants to say.

"I don't think I can. Do the friends thing. Not with, the way things are. Right now. I need more. Or less. I don't know. I just know I can't do this." He says, unable to meet her eyes.

"So you don't want to be friends anymore?" Simmons looks crushed.

"No, I do… It's just… With everything going on right now. Maybe it's better if we don't. For a little while. Just until I... adjust."

"Why can't we just go back to the way things were before?"

"I can't."

"Of course we can. Come back full time in the lab. We'll work together. I make a horrible boss anyways, and I'm so much better when you're there to bounce ideas off of. We can see if maybe we can find a cure. Something to help speed up your recovery and then we-" Simmons starts to babble hopefully.

"No Jemma, I can't!"

"Why not?"

"Because it hurts!" Fitz cries out at her, hating his stupid brain for not being able to let him communicate his feelings better leaving him to whine like a toddler. Communication had never been his strong point in the first place, but this aphasia made making even the simplest sentences like solving advanced Asgardian hieroglyphic equations. "Being around you. Feeling the way I do. And you. You not feeling the same. It hurts."

"You don't know how I feel!"

"You don't need to say it. I know. You left." Fitz knows exactly how she feels, because there's no other possible explanation for her behavior. Even if by some miracle her leaving was about something other than what happened in the pod, other than his injuries, she'd been back for months now and had had every opportunity to say something as casual as 'Hey Fitz. I love you too.' Her silence and her absence spoke more than words ever could.

"I told you. That wasn't because of you. That was Coulson. He asked me to go undercover-" Jemma tries again to explain, but Fitz is tired of the excuses and cuts her off.

"I told you how I felt, and you didn't feel the same way so you left." Fitz yells at her. "Don't tell me you leaving wasn't about what happened in the pod."

"I was confused." Jemma admits, getting teary eyed. "Fitz everything happened so fast. I didn't have enough time to process..."

"What is there to be confused about? It's a simple thing Jemma. You either feel it or you don't."

"I don't know what I'm feeling! I've been running it over and over in my head. I'm trying to work this out, but I can't!"

"Well there's your answer then." Fitz says, crossing his arms across his chest and scuffing his foot on the floor.

"I don't want to lose you from my life. I don't want things to change!" Simmons begs him, almost at the point of tears.

"They already have!" Fitz tells her, impatiently throwing the words she once said to him back at her.

"When did this even happen? When did your feelings change? Was it just we thought we were going to die and you-"

"No. It's not that. Before." Fitz cuts her off, not wanting her to believe that his confession in the pod had just been because they were dying. He'd been trying to find the courage to tell her how he felt for months before that.

"Well then when? We've been friends for so long. When did it change?" Jemma asked, tearfully trying to gather all the information she could. That's what Jemma did. She absorbed information like a sponge, always desperate for more. She needed to know every little fact before she could make a decision. And in a situation as fragile as this, making the right decision was imperative.


	3. Chapter 3

Fitz stares at her with his mouth open because he's tongue tied and doesn't know how to answer her simple question.

"When did it change?"

He wants to tell her nothing really changed, it just grown to a point where he couldn't ignore it anymore.

From the very first moment when she corrected Fitz in aerodynamics class, he felt a stirring of emotion. Mostly annoyance, but there were other feelings too. Fitz assumed at first that there was no way someone could be that beautiful and that smart. Simmons must have been a total bitch because there had to be something wrong with her.

Then they were paired up for a school project, and she wasn't at all what he thought she would be. She was kind, and funny, and generous. For the first few months,whenever Fitz saw her his throat seized up and he felt his IQ dropping. He thought she must be some sorceress stealing all his intellect.

Despite all that, eventually he found his words, and somehow they became friends. Soon Jemma Simmons stopped being the pretty girl in Fitz's class and just became Simmons. She became a part of his daily life and he took for granted that she was just always there. And it was fine.

The two were friends and Fitz barely even noticed anymore that she had boobs, or the cute way she bit her lip when she was thinking hard, or the jealous pang in his stomach when she flirted with other men. And for a while that was it.

Then she had to go and get infected with that stupid virus, and the idea of losing her scared Fitz more than anything else ever had. Standing on that ledge, when Ward stole the parachute and antidote from him, was the moment he knew for sure he loved Simmons. Because at that moment he was actually jealous that Ward jumped off that plane instead of him. Well, he was bloody relieved that he didn't have to jump, but a part of him wanted to. To be the one to jump off the damn plane, despite his fear of heights, and save her.

Fitz wants to tell Simmons all of this, but he can't. Partially because after all this time he's still too afraid to tell her, and mostly because his brain cannot seem to get a single word to come out of his mouth.

"My stupid mouth won't work!" Fitz yells hitting himself in the head in frustration, as he gapes for words.

"Oh, it's all about you isn't it!" Jemma gives a frustrated sigh throwing her arms up in the air.

"What?" Fitz asks in shock. For a smart girl, Jemma Simmons can really be an idiot, because it seems like since the moment he's met her, everything Fitz has done, thought, or felt has been 98% about her. With the other 2% reserved for science and monkeys.

"Oh, boohoo. I'm not the super genius that I used to be, my brain's not working like it used to." She imitates him in a whiney voice. "So much self pity over the tiniest bit of brain damage. So it takes you ten seconds longer to solve an equation and you have some aphasia. Big deal. You always talked too much anyways, and you were never that good at scrabble to begin with."

"My brain was all I had, Jemma! I'm not like Ward, or Mac, or Trip. My body isn't anything to write home about!" Fitz reminds her.

"Your body is just fine." Jemma says dismissively.

Fitz is thrown off by the lukewarm back handed compliment, and thinks that may be the first time she's ever even acknowledged that he had a body. Other than the time she called him pasty. Jemma does not leave it at that though and continues to lecture him on his physical attributes.

"Despite being of below average height and strength, your body fat percentage is within acceptable range and your face has very high levels of bilateral symmetry. Plus you have very nice teeth, especially when considering your region of upbringing, and both your brow line and your limbal ring are optimal. Plus you smell very nice, not when you wear that horrible aftershave your mom sent you mind you, but overall you have a very pleasant smell. And based off of what I observed of your swim trunks on that Holiday break when we went swimming in France, you are more than capable both in length and girth to…" Fitz raises his eyebrows at the fact that she's clearly babbled to the point she's not paying attention to what she's saying anymore. Realizing she's about to say something very inappropriate she brings her hand up cover her mouth with a squeak. "I'm going to stop talking!"

"So if that's not the problem then what is?" Fitz asks, his arms still crossed like a shield over his chest protecting his heart.

"Look. Fitz, you are the most important person to me in the world." Jemma tries desperately to explain to him "What if it doesn't work out? Statistically speaking the chances of two people... Fitz, you're my best friend and of course I care about you but sex ruins everything. I can't lose you. What if-"

"I'm not talking about sex! I mean yes… sex would be nice, but I… it's more than… We could be good. We could be great. Aren't you curious?" Fitz hates asking the question, because he's afraid of the answer.

He's seen Jemma checking out other men. He's aware that physically he may not be her type. He really doesn't want to hear that she's always thought of him like a brother, but he needs to know if she's at least ever thought of him in that way.

"Of course I'm curious!" Simmons rolls her eyes at his question, and Fitz lets out a sigh of relief that he didn't know he was holding in. "But that's not a reason to go mucking years of friendship up because I wonder what you look like naked! Look at the damage curiosity brings! Look at Sky's transformation and Ultron. That was all because of someone's curiosity."

"Good things can come of it too. You've got to stop being so afraid, Jemma. About everything! You're not giving anything new a chance. You didn't use to be." Fitz yells back at her.

"Of course I'm afraid! I almost lost you!" Simmons yells back, "Ward's still out there, and he tried to kill you. Hydra is out there and you're probably on their top wanted list! Shield keeps sending you out on missions, and Fitz you have very little physical strength. Trips dead and so is Eric and Victoria. And you! They hurt you! There is so much terrible, and I can't deal with it without you-"

"Stop talking." Fitz grabs her by her arms, trying to keep her quiet. She was saying too much, too fast, and he was getting stressed out all her words jumbling in his mind. He just needed a moment of silence to think.

"Well one of us has to! We have to talk to each other Fitz. We can't just-"

"Jemma!" Fitz growls in frustration.

"And I don't know how to be around you anymore! You're so angry at me because I left, but you can't be anymore angry at me than I am. I left because I knew I was making you worse! I thought me being around was harder for you. I had to do something though, so I went and infiltrated hydra, because as long as they were out there you were at risk. I couldn't see you like that, knowing it was my fault. If I hadn't drug you on that ship, if I hadn't taken the oxygen, I should have made you take it-"

"Jemma, just stop!" Fitz yells, shaking her, needing her to stop because he can't keep up.

And then he found a way to stop her from talking.

He kisses her.


	4. Chapter 4

With very little thought, Fitz pulls Jemma flush to him and his lips press against hers. He kisses her and the world falls silent.

Fitz brushes his lips gently against hers, his fingers clenching and releasing, clasping her hair. Her lips are softer than he could have possibly imagined, and they tentatively press back against his own. For a moment he feels like his brain turns off completely. There is nothing but silence and the gentle pressure of her lips against his.

His brain turns back on, and he realizes with terror what the hell he's doing. She begins to pull away gently, and he retreats with shame. For a moment both of them just stand there catching their breath, digesting the gravity of what happens.

"I'm sorry." Fitz blurts out quickly, bringing his hand up to rub his neck nervously, unable to look her in the eye.

"Don't be. That was lovely. Really." Jemma says kindly and Fitz's expression twitches unhappily. Lovely is the word one uses to describe tea with one's aunts.

Fitz steels his body as best he can, turning away from her and preparing for the rejection. He's not sure he's ready but it's not like he hasn't been preparing for this final blow since the moment he realized his feeling for her.

He braces himself as best he can. His head is still spinning, his pulse is racing, and his lips are tingling from the idea that he just kissed Jemma Simmons. He feels like he may have a panic attack, but he tells himself he just needs to get it over with.

"I know. I know. That was lovely but…" Fitz mutters, making excuses for her. Maybe if he is the one to admit defeat it will be easier.

"No, Fitz." Jemma's gentle hand stops him from leaving, and he looks down at her hand on his shoulder, and then up at her face. It holds an almost shy smile, in a sincere voice she whispers, "That was lovely."

"Oh." Fitz says, as he tries to process the meaning behind her words. Even if his brain were perfectly functional, at this point he doesn't think he would be able to form more words. "Oh!"

She nods, and smiles up at him encouragingly. His eyes search hers to try to identify the look. Reading emotions has never been his strong suit, but he feels like whatever this is, it's good.

"Would you like to… um…" Fitz clears his throat, "Try again then?"

"Yes, please." She bites her lower lip and smiles up at him.

"Right. Good." Fitz nods. He needs a moment to process all of this. Looking down at her expectant face, he realizes he's missing something. "Oh! You mean now?"

"Fitz." She laughs gently, and Fitz smiles back at her. He hasn't heard her laugh in too long.

Armed with a little more confidence, and much more conscious thought than before, he places an arm around her waist pulling her closer. Each movement is slow and calculated, giving her plenty of time to pull away if he's indeed misunderstood her. He brings his other hand up to the back of her head his fingers tangling through her hair. Looking at her carefully for a moment, she sees the same nervous expression in her eyes he imagines is in his. His eyes then drop to stare at her lips. Her perfect full formed lips, and he takes a deep breath before lowering his lips to press against hers. He kisses her with purpose this time.

The kiss becomes slightly more frantic, and Fitz backs her up against the counter and lifts her up onto it, standing between her legs as he kisses her deeper. His palms rub the fabric of her pants covering her thighs, and her hands come up to either side of his head to keep his lips firmly pressed against her own. She makes a soft mewling noise as he grinds his pelvis against hers, and he may not be Captain America, or Iron Man, or even Ward, but right this moment he feels like a superhero.

He kisses her with such force that she leans back and knocks Mack's toolbox to the floor. Wrenches and screwdrivers clatter everywhere, and still Jemma pulls him in to kiss her. It's not until the smell of gasoline alerts them that they've spilled a small container that they finally break apart, with Fitz hurrying to grab a towel to clean up the mess while Jemma catches her breath and straightens her rumpled clothing.

"Well that was… unexpected." Simmons gasps, adjusting her hair.

"Was it?" Fitz asks, wondering what part of it she found unexpected because he'd been fantasizing about similar situations for as long as he could remember.

"Do you think Mack will be upset we messed up his area?" Simmons asks shyly sliding off the counter.

"No. Absolutely not." Fitz wipes up the floor mechanically, his mind flying at about a hundred miles an hour at what just happened. He'd kissed Simmons. More importantly, Simmons had kissed him back. He must remain calm. He must not focus on the idea that his entire future happiness hangs in the balance. Mustn't panic.

"Oh good. I'd hate to get you in any trouble..." Simmons says awkwardly. After a long moment, where Fitz is still silent Jemma quietly asks, "So we're good. Right?"

"Yeah. Yeah, we're good." Fitz says, looking down at the cloth in hand wondering what her definition of good was. He's worried that maybe she just threw him this kiss in pity, and now she considers the whole matter taken care of and wants to go back to being just friends. Which quite honestly, Fitz doesn't think he's capable of doing now that he knows what her lips taste like. "I'm good. You?"

"Yes. Very good." Simmons agrees quickly much to Fitz's relief. He doesn't have too much experience kissing, and that was definitely the top kiss he's ever had, but he knows she's had far more experience and is happy to hear he didn't muck it up. "So now..."

"Wait. Don't say it." Fitz interrupts her before she can finish her statement.

"Say what?" Jemma asks, nervously.

"Whatever you're about to say. Just wait a moment." Fitz pleads. He needs to live in this moment of possibility just a moment longer. He collects himself, shuts his eyes tightly and prepares himself for the fall out. "Ok... I'm ready now. Go on."

"I was just going to say, maybe we should go for a drink?" Simmons seems to be grasping for what the appropriate etiquette was in a situation like this. Fitz's eyes fly open in surprise. This was not quite what he was expecting.

"I.. I can't." Fitz sees Simmons' face fall and he quickly rushes to clarify. "Oh, no. I can't right now. I really do need to finish the fixing the automatic pulser, but later? A drink? Once I solve this?"

"Yes." Her genuine smile warms his chest and he can't help but return the smile back.

"Great. Ok, well I'm going to, just..." Fitz trips over his feet as he backs up towards the station away from her, keeping his eyes and smile aimed at her the whole time. He holds up the automatic pulser in his hand at her, to show her he's going to get back to work on it, since words seem to have left him.

He stares down at the little wires, and even though he still doesn't know exactly how to solve the bloody problem short of operating it in a freezer, somehow it doesn't seem to bother him near as much as before. In fact, he feels like he may start singing as he stares down grinning like an idiot at the wires. His hands still shake, though right now he's not sure if it's because of his brain trauma or his joy. As he stares down intently, determined to solve the puzzle he feels a warmth at his side and looks over to see Simmons standing beside him, goggles on, staring down at the small contraption he has in his hand.

"What are you doing?" He asks her.

"I'm helping." She says, looking down at the intricate gadget in his hands. "The sooner we get this fixed, the sooner we can get that drink, right?"

This logic would normally hold true, except for the fact that with her standing so close, Fitz can't help but stare at her rather than the mass of wires. A huge smile spreads across his face as she does that lip bite she does when she's thinking really hard.

She feels him staring, and looks up to meet his eyes, surprised to see the look of longing in them that he usually did a much better job of hiding from her.

Forgetting the small machine in front of them, Fitz leans down and kisses her. Despite everything, he's still surprised that she kisses him back even more passionately. He wonders if he'll ever stop being surprised that Jemma Simmons actually is allowing him to kiss her. That she seems to want him to. It's a good thing they didn't start this earlier, because Fitz is fairly certain he would have failed out of the Academy if he'd have known that kissing Jemma was a viable option instead of studying.

He can't believe he went so many years without kissing her, only to have their first, second, third, and going on fourth kiss together within a matter of minutes.

Her hands come up to his shoulders and he kisses her softly again and again, this time being very careful to back her up away from all of the delicate machinery and tools and up against the glass wall. Anyone walking down the hall could see them, and there are security cameras in this part of the bus, but Fitz is hardly worried about privacy. He is kissing Jemma Simmons, and he wants the whole damn world to know it.


	5. Chapter 5

"So this could be… um..." Fitz mumbles against Jemma's lips as he pins her against the glass of the garage wall.

"Distracting." Simmons finishes for him, bringing her lips up to nibble on his ear.

"Yes. That's it. Distracting." Fitz thanks her for the assist before he goes back to kissing her again.

"So distracting!" Simmons agrees, as her hands claw at his back trying to bring him closer. His hand braces them both against the glass, and he kisses down her neck to her collar bone, one of her legs wrapping around his hips.

"Maybe I should do this with Mack…" Fitz stutters out, and Jemma pulls away to give him a disbelieving look. He realizes what he just said sounds like and he quickly corrects himself.

"No, not this. This. The automatic pulser… Maybe I should finish up with Mac, so I can actually focus and finish up, so I can go..." Fitz takes a deep breath and looks down at her lips again, worried that this is his only chance and if he lets her go now he'll miss it. Still the last words he mumbles feel comforting on his tongue, "...for our drink."

"Right. Probably a good idea. So I'll just go. Let you get some work done." Simmons agrees, slowly untangling herself from Fitz's arms. "I'll just go and pop in the shower. I should be ready for our date by eight. Or do you think it will take longer?"

"Date?" Fitz's ears perk up at the word and he turns around in a panic. She had said a drink. A drink could be a date, and given what had just happened, Fitz had good reason to hope it was. However it could also be a friendly drink after work with a mate. But a date was a date.

"Is there a problem? Eight o'clock? Or do you think you'll need until nine to fix it?" Jemma asks gently, not wanting to seem like she's pushing him beyond his abilities. She knows he's changed, and it's going to take her some time to adjust to his new limitations, but she doesn't want him to think she's rushing him.

"Nope. No. Eight is brilliant. I mean fine. Eight is fine." Fitz stutters.

"Ok. So I will let you be brilliant, and see you at eight. My room?" She asks, all smiles as she turns and shyly backs away from him. She winces at the last words, worrying he might think she's too forward. Of course they have spent over nine years building up, so she's not being that presumptuous.

"Yes." Fitz suddenly wonders why his voice dropped to such an embarrassingly low tone, but he clears it and repeats, "Yes, eight. I will just wrap up here, and then I will be there."

She nods, still all smiles, and turns to head out the door.

"Wait!" Fitz jogs across the room to her side again. She turns and looks up at him with wide eyes. "I'll need these."

He gently peels the goggles she forgot to remove off her head and then leans down and gives her a soft goodbye kiss, just for the pure joy that he can.

"Bye, Simmons." He looks down at her with a grin that makes her go week in the knees, and that's certainly a new side effect.

"Bye, Fitz." She replies a little more breathlessly than she'd like.

"Everything ok in here, Turbo?" Mack pokes his head through the door half expecting to find Fitz curled up in the corner after his run in with Simmons. Instead he's surprised to see the young scientist buzzing about the lab like a hummingbird, completely engrossed in his work. When he doesn't seem to hear him, Mack repeats "Turbo! Everything ok?"

"Mack! Good. Just who I needed. Here. The automatic pulser." Fitz dumps the small machine into Mack's arms along with a thick jacket.

"You fixed it?" Mack asks surprised that he managed to do so so quickly. What had Simmons done to the kid?

"What? Oh no. You but you just put on the jacket and this hat has a built in heat coil so as long as you're standing in the kitchen freezer and run it for under 84 minutes it won't overheat." Fitz says distractedly. "If it does, just detach these cords, place it on an ice pack and then reattach it and start again."

"You're kidding. Isn't there a better way to do this that doesn't involve me freezing my ass off?" Mack demands, shoving the machine back in Fitz's hand like a game of hot potato.

"Yes, we could also wrap the wires in a polyurethane coating and then seal each one in by hand and reroute the wiring to avoid overheating the central hardware." Fitz says practically.

"Then why aren't we doing that?" Mack asks grumpily, not looking forward to a night in the freezer.

"Because it would take longer and I have a date." Fitz claps Mack on the back of the shoulder handing him back the device.

Taking off his goggles to toss them aside, he can hardly stop himself from running for the door knowing somewhere in the cabin Simmons is primping, and for once, it's for his benefit.

"No! Really?" Mack gasps with a little more disbelief than Fitz appreciates. "With Simmons?"

"Yes." Fitz grins with happiness and pride.

"Way to go Turbo." Mack lets out a low whistle.

"Yes. I have no idea what to do." Fitz admits honestly.

"Girls like flowers." Mack advises.

"We're on a jet six miles above the Atlantic ocean." Fitz points out reasonably. "Where am I going to get flowers?"

"Good point." Mack agrees, "But you could ask May to reroute. I think I heard her say we're only about an hour from Cayo Santiago."

"THE Cayo Santiago?!" Fitz asks with sudden urgency.

"I think that's what she said." Mack tries to recall his brief conversation with the stoic pilot.

"Cayo Santiago, also known as Santiago Island, Isla de los monos?!" Fitz asks excitedly.

"Yes?" Mack answers hesitantly very confused as to Fitz's sudden excitement. "Why?"

"I gotta go!" Fitz suddenly turns to run out the door.

"Why? What's so special about Cayo Santiago?" Mack calls after him.

"IT'S THE ISLAND OF MONKEYS!" Fitz yells back as he runs down the hall towards the cockpit. "This is the best day of my life!"


	6. Chapter 6

At 8:03 Fitz nervously knocks on Jemma's door.

"Sorry I'm late." Fitz apologizes before Jemma gets the door fully open. "For you."

Fitz holds out the makeshift bouquet of flowers he engineered. It's mostly made up of wires as stems and tubes of glass in different shapes with colored gasses inside that softly glow. Overall in the short period of time he's had to create it, it's turned out rather well.

"They're lovely." Jemma smiles encouragingly up at him, taking the robotic flowers and clutching them to her chest.

"Yeah… Mack said flowers but… ocean…" Fitz needs to calm down and find his words, "I improvised. Took a minute."

"They even smell lovely." Jemma smiles in surprise.

"Yeah, I managed to ionize one of the air fresheners from the girls lavatory to do that." Fitz says proudly, before realizing he maybe shouldn't have admitted that.

"Are you trying to woo me, Leopold Fitz?" Jemma asks teasingly, as she turns to walk into her room with a bit of a bounce in her step.

She sets the flowers down on the nightstand table in a jar and stares at them appreciatively. They were so much more beautiful than real flowers. The amount of thought and impressive science and engineering skills behind it tells her that Fitz really hasn't changed as much as she thought.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Should I not be? I thought… with earlier…" Fitz stutters, and he swears he has no clue what to do in this new situation with Jemma.

"No, it's lovely. Just unnecessary." Jemma says encouragingly placing her hand on his arm.

"Unnecessary?" Fitz asks, looking down to the hand on his arm, trying to read the social cues.

Normally he reads Simmons moods and tones effortlessly, but the romantic situation is a completely foreign experience to him. Once again basic knowledge of her says she means this to be comforting, but the phrasing makes it sounds ominous. He wants to be wooing her. He doesn't just want a friends with benefits situation.

"You're already in. You don't need to work so hard." Jemma assures him, trying to take some of the pressure off him and relieve the awkward tension between the two, "Are you coming in or are you just going to stand in the doorway?"

Fitz peers in past Jemma to her room. He feels a little shocked by her brazen invitation. Not that he should. Despite her proper demeanor, he'd heard in painful detail her stories of dating in her academy days. At the same time, he feels a bit of relief that he can stop worrying about whether or not he'd broken out of the friendzone. Apparently he's left it completely behind and is in brand new unexplored territory.

"Ummm… Can't. I have a plan." Being invited into Jemma's bedroom in a romantic capacity has been a fantasy of Fitz's for years, and it pains him to turn it down. However, he's got a plan for tonight, and he feels if he ventures into her room those plans are forgone.

He nervously shifts back and forth on his feet. He hopes she appreciates his plan and doesn't think he's trying too hard. Or not hard enough.

"Ok." Jemma says shyly, and Fitz is a little relieved to see she looks nervous as well. She reaches over and grabs a sweater from the back of her chair.

"You look nice." Fitz compliments her and he smiles when he sees a blush tints her cheeks.

"Thank you." She says softly.

He merely smiles and nods in reply, pleased that he got the compliment out without stuttering. They are actually on a date. This is so strange.

"So what is your plan?" She asks as she closes the door behind her leaving the two of them in the hallway.

"I pinched this from Hunter." Fitz says, pulling the bottle of whisky from his bag. "You said a drink?"

"That seems dangerous." Simmons grins, and he can't help but smile back broadly with the idea that he's impressed her. He tries to shrug it off like it's no big deal.

"Well, yeah. I'm not afraid of him." Fitz is only partially telling the truth. He puts the bottle back in the bag and begins to lead her down the hallway wondering if he should take her hand. "Besides it's peanuts compared with what we're about to do."

She gives him a curious look and he smiles at the fact he can still surprise her. Feeling a little more confident, though still terrified, he leads her down the hall in silence. His mind is racing with plans and hopes for the evening, and he doesn't have the faculties to try to make conversation right now. He can only seem to talk in broken sentences these days anyways, and whenever he stumbles over a word he reminds himself and her that he's not at the top of his game, so he tries not to talk much.

"Where are we going?" Simmons whispers after following him for a moment in silence. She's not sure if the silence is nerves, or if they're purposefully sneaking somewhere and trying to stay quiet.

"I'm not going to tell you, because if we get caught you won't have to lie." Fitz whispers back. Looking back at her concerned expression he breaks into a grin, "I'm teasing. We'll be there in a moment."

They walk into the open area of the dock and Fitz holds out his arms to demonstrate they've arrived. "Tada."


	7. Chapter 7

"The garage? We were just here." Simmons looks around in confusion. She's trying not to sound disappointed in Fitz's surprise because she doesn't want to discourage him. The open area looks completely normal, and she's not sure what he's demonstrating.

"Nope. Loading ramp." Fitz says, gesturing over in the other direction.

"Ok…" Simmons says not knowing where Fitz is going with this. Normally they're much more insync. Fitz seeing her confusion takes her hand and leads her over to Coulson's car, opening the side door for her to get in. Comprehension dawns on her. "Lola? I'm not allowed to touch Lola!"

"I am." Fitz says proudly holding the door open for her, appreciating her reaction.

"Yes to fix her! I don't think your privileges extend to entertaining girls in it."

"Come along Simmons." Fitz smiles at her, helping her into the car and then walking around the side to get in the drivers seat. He sits in next to her and then turns to smile widely at her. The experience of discovering new things is their thing, and he's about to share a new adventure with her. This feels for once, calmingly familiar.

"You're right this is fun." Simmons giggles at the dangerous feeling of breaking the rules and sitting in her superior's car. She really didn't know Fitz had this rebel streak in him.

"Good, because it's just the start." Fitz says turning the keys to the ignition.

"What are you doing?" Simmons squeals.

"Looking for a better place to park." Fitz says with a grin.

"We can't go anywhere! We're in the middle of the ocean!"

"I asked May to make a detour." Fitz grins mischievously as he lowers the ramp to reveal the bus has parked on a beach, in the near distance there's a jungle with a road just large enough for Lola to navigate through.

"Where are we?" Simmons asks in wonder at the tropical paradise Fitz is driving her through.

"Cayo Santiago." Fitz says excitedly.

"The Island of Monkeys?" Simmons asks with glee, "I thought it wasn't open to tourists!"

"We're not tourists. We're scientists." Fitz corrects her with a mischievous smile.

"Oh my God. Fitz, this is amazing. Did you know that the monkeys on this Island are the offspring of an original group of monkeys imported from India that were used for scientific research in 1938?" Simmons lectures as she stares in wonder up at the jungle around them. Fitz smiles to himself. He did actually know that, but he loves the way her eyes light up as she shares things she finds interesting with him. They drive for a bit with Simmons rattling off facts about the ecosystem of the island.

"This looks like a good spot." Fitz says putting Lola in park and turning her off. He leaves the radio humming gently in the background and reaches for his bag.

"For what?" Simmons asks amazed looking around. She knows the Beach is less than a mile back and they are parked in an area surrounded by jungle flora which she desperately wants to catalog, but above them they can see through the tree tops to the starlit sky.

"For our drink." Fitz says, pulling the whisky out of his bag and pouring two glasses and cutting it with water. He hands her a glass and reclines his chair staring up at the sky and the monkeys who dance through the trees overhead.

She takes the glass from him with an easy smile. For a moment she sips her drink and merely watches him watching the monkeys above. He looks relaxed now. Nowhere near as nervous as he was when he picked her up at her door. He has a look of childlike wonder on his face as he stares up at the sky and sways his head lightly to the music in the background. Leaning back in her own chair she reclines as well, staring up at the beautiful sight above them.

Staring up at the sky, her hand feels between them until it finds his, and then she intertwines their fingers. He looks over in surprise at the contact, and up at her face but she's staring up at the sky. With a smile he turns back to stare up above as they watch the monkeys.

"Looks like Benny is getting braver." Fitz says, rubbing his thumb over her palm as he stares up at a monkey that has jumped up on the hood.

"Benny?" Simmons asks, looking over at Fitz and hoping 'Benny' is what he's calling the monkey and not a ridiculous name he has for his genitals.

"Benny." Fitz points to the monkey on the hood, "And that one is Rosie, and that one is George, and Abbott."

"Oh dear, you're naming them. You do realize you can't take them home right? Don't get too attached." Simmons reminds him, looking over at him with a smile.

"I know that." Fitz protests, but Simmons isn't fully convinced. "I put the shield up so they shouldn't be able to get too close without getting a small shock, so don't touch them."

"They're wild monkeys and probably are crawling with Hepatitis B. I'll keep my hands to myself."

"Well… I didn't say you should do that…" Fitz says cheekily.

Simmons looks over in surprise to find him flirting with her. So this is what Fitz looks like when he's flirting. It's oddly adorable. For a moment there with the casual relaxed atmosphere, she'd completely forgotten they were on a date. She was just here with Fitz in the most beautiful forest she could imagine, but now she remembers. She's on a date with Fitz, which allows her certain perks that she couldn't take advantage of before.

"That is an excellent point, Fitz." Jemma smiles and leans in to kiss him softly.

The monkeys continue to leap across the branches above them under a star kissed sky.

"Why did we stop?" Sky bounces into Coulson's office where Phil and May are sitting.

"Engine trouble." May says, but there's almost a ghost of a smile on her stern expression.

"Engine trouble? I don't want to alarm anyone but I think Fitz left!" Sky says, wondering why no one seems concerned about any of this.

"He did. Him and Simmons." Phil says calmly, taking a sip from his tea.

"What?! Why? Where did they go? We have to go after them."

"They're safe." Phil assures Skye who looks like she's ready to lead a search and rescue party. "They'll be back shortly and then we should be back on course."

"Why does no one ever tell me anything?" Skye complains to the two, still not completely sure what was going on, but sensing that both May and Coulson knew more than they were letting on. Too many secrets on this ship. The two just shrug mischievously. After a moment passes, Coulson breaks the silence.

"I can't believe you changed course." Phil says to May. For as much of a hard ass as she is, and as much as she acts like Fitzsimmons annoys her, she's such a softie sometimes.

"I can't believe you let him take Lola." May replies without missing a beat.

"If it's safe with anyone it's Fitz. He's the only one I let work on my car." Phil says.

"You do know they're probably doing it in your car right now, right?" Skye points out with a smirk, and Coulson's face falls. He clearly had not fully thought this through when Fitz asked if he could borrow it.

"No way… it's Fitzsimmons!" Coulson argues.

Fitzsimmons did not have sex. They were adorable, nerdy and awkward scientists. It took them a decade to even figure out they had feelings for each other.

They were young.

They were on their very first date...

They were...

They were definitely having sex in Phil's car.

"Don't worry, Phil. I know a guy in LA who reupholstered my Van. I'll give him a call and tell him you'll be needing his services when we land." Skye says with a snarky grin, patting Director Coulson on the back and skipping out of the room.

May's ghost of a smile had turned into a silent giggle.

Coulson sighs, and hopes that Fitzsimmons were at least smart enough to bring a blanket to protect the custom leather.


End file.
